The Arkham Asylum Files: Panic in Gotham City Review: Gotham City Mysteries Comes to Life Via AR

Arkham Asylum Files: Panic in Gotham City delivers a unique series of mysteries in a box.

By Christian Hoffer

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The Arkham Asylum Files is an impressive "mystery in a box" style game that uses AR technology and dozens of puzzles to help take down some of Gotham City's worst villains. Released earlier this year by Infinite Rabbit Holes, a new company specializing in AR-enhanced games, The Arkham Asylum Files: Panic in Gotham City utilizes both physical components and an app with augmented reality technology to weave together a series of mysteries set in Gotham City. Panic in Gotham City (the first in a planned trilogy of games) is an impressive game that features some of the best uses of app-enhanced tabletop gaming to date, although the technology still has some limitations. 

Panic in Gotham City comes in a massive box with over 100 unique components, including a 3D board containing foamcore versions of several Gotham buildings. In addition to the game itself, players will also need to download an app for the game on either their smartphone or tablet device. While other tabletop games use apps to help manage rules or act as a game master controlling enemies, Panic in Gotham City uses AR technology that overlays clues on physical pieces. Players may be asked to solve a physical puzzle and then scan it to receive the clues they need to advance the story. As someone who has watched AR technology progress a long way since the launch of Pokemon Go in 2016, Infinite Rabbit Holes' AR is pretty impressive. The app does a good job of following the physical components so that players can interact with the physical piece while also solving the puzzle on your device. 

One centerpiece to Panic in Gotham City is a physical 3D map of the city, built using foamboard components as the game progresses. Many of the puzzles use an AR version of the map, with players expected to scan the city from different angles with their phone as they search for clues. Infinite Rabbit Holes recommends putting the map on a tabletop and I would add that players should make sure they can approach the map from every angle. While the app can follow the city if players rotate the board around instead of approaching it from different directions, I found that moving the board too much threw off the AR, which was the only app-related setback I experienced during my playthrough. If playing through the game with more than one player, I also recommend casting to a larger screen so that every player can see the clues as they're revealed on the app.

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As for the story itself, it's definitely a "mystery in a box" set within Gotham City. Players will "assist" a reformed Harley Quinn as she makes her way through various Arkham Asylum files, with players often using "Joker vision" to scan components to unlock cut scenes or enhance the story in different ways. There are lots of little Easter eggs for players to notice as they make their way through the game, and the story itself pulls some decently deep cuts from Batman lore. I'd put this on par with the Arkham Asylum video games in how it approaches Batman lore, in which there are lots of nods to the comics and underlying lore but nothing so vague that it would be lost to more casual fans.

The actual puzzles themselves range on the easier side to solve, with many consisting of figuring out a keyword that need to be entered into the phone to "solve" the puzzle from a story perspective. Folks looking for a true challenge might be a bit disappointed by the difficulty level of the puzzles, but the need to use the app to find the clues needed to solve most of the puzzles prevent the puzzles from being solved too quickly. I will also add that the puzzles in Panic in Gotham City are about on par with some of the other "escape room in a box" or "mystery in a box" type of games and that these games have to balance challenging players with not making puzzles too difficult to hinder the overall experience. 

Outside of the minor issues I encountered with interacting with the app, the only real criticism I had was the decision to make Harley Quinn the narrator of a Gotham City-themed mystery. Given the whole Dark Detective who lives in Gotham (who also has a supercomputer that regularly scans evidence), I thought it was a little goofy that we were helping Harley solve crimes using "Joker Vision" instead of Batman, but the experience is still enjoyable even with the odd narrative angle. 

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The full story takes about 7 hours to complete, which actually is much beefier than other "Mystery in a box" style games. Considering a lot of the "Hunt a Killer" mysteries can be completed in under an hour, the longer storyline and the additional components justify the $149.99 retail price (currently on sale for $104 here on Amazon). This isn't exactly a cheap game, but it is one that is actually in line with other similar-style games on the market. Like other mystery games, there's limited replayability to this game, although it's easy enough to pass along to another gaming group once finished as none of the components are destroyed while playing through the game.  

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If you like Batman or mysteries or cool experiences that merge physical components with digital technology together, The Arkham Asylum Files is going to be right up your alley. While I was never really challenged during my playthrough of Panic in Gotham City, I really enjoyed the experience that it offered and I think it would have even more of an appeal to folks who aren't constantly solving puzzles and figuring out mysteries as part of their job. This is definitely a game you want your gaming group to try out. 

A review copy of Arkham Asylum: Panic in Gotham City was provided for review purposes. The game was reviewed using an iPhone 11 Pro Max. You can order the game here on Amazon now. 

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